The Sperry Ball Turret
A Sperry ball turret, used on the famous American B-17 heavy bomber A ball turret was a spherical-shaped, altazimuth mount gun turret, fitted to some American-built aircraft during World War II. The name arose from the turret's spherical housing. It was a manned turret, as distinct from remote-controlled turrets also in use. The turret held the gunner, two heavy machine guns, ammunition, and sights. The Sperry Corporation designed ventral versions that became the most common version; thus, the term "ball turret" generally indicates these versions. The gunner sighted between his elevated feet and routinely stayed inside the turret for up to 10 hours on a mission. The turret was too small to hold both the gunner and his parachute, thus the gunner was required to rotate the turret, exit into the fuselage and put on his parachute should the plane be going down. Statistics showed the Ball Turret gunner was the least likely member of the crew to be wounded, as he was surroun